Captain Kirk rides steampunk bike

Star Trek actor and motorcycle fanatic William Shatner has started a company making steampunk motorcycles.

“Captain Kirk” will promote the Rivet Motors brand by riding his first custom three-wheeler machine along Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles later this year.

Steampunk is a design style that blends art deco futurist design usually with steam power, much like the contraptions from a Jules Verne novel.

The Canadian actor has created the company in a joint venture with Illinois custom motorcycle company American Wrench after meeting one of its employees in a line waiting to get his autograph.

The first motorcycle, called Rivet One, was built from Shatner’s challenging ideas including that the bike should seat two and have a full canopy.

Rivet One is powered by a V8 that could be a Corvette but it has not been confirmed.

The design inspiration is the World War II American B-17 Bomber. The trike has a single-sided front swingarm that steers the trike via two airplane-style throttles and the riveted body is made of hand-formed aluminium like a war plane.

Shatner calls it the “land jet”.

Limited versions will be made for public sale with each made to the customer’s specifications.